'Stangs buck T-Birds

The visiting Skyline Thunderbirds saw their record drop to 0-8 on the season following a 66-20 defeat at the hands of the Macksville Mustangs Friday night.

Neil DePew

The visiting Skyline Thunderbirds saw their record drop to 0-8 on the season following a 66-20 defeat at the hands of the Macksville Mustangs Friday night.Although the Skyliners got off to a good start, drawing first blood on the scoreboard, it wasn’t long before the wheels came off.After a Skyline TD and 2 point conversion gave the T-Birds the lead, the Mustangs put up 14 points of their own in the first quarter to take a 14-8 advantage.The second quarter was a debacle for Skyline as Macksville outscored the Thunderbirds 28-6 to go up 42-14 at the break.Things did not get a whole lot better for the T-Birds in the second half. The third quarter was nearly as lopsided as the second, the Mustangs putting up 24 points to the Thunderbirds 6.With the score 66-20 in favor of Macksville at the end of the third stanza, a halt was called to the proceedings.It was a dominating performance by the Mustangs, who have now gotten their record back to even at 4-4 after a slow start.“Macksville did a good job of getting (QB Tanner) Tranbarger out in space,” Skyline head coach Jon Novotny observed. “He was a real gamechanger.”“We didn’t tackle well at all,” Novotny continued. “Tranbarger made a lot of big plays against us on scrambles. Even if we busted their play, Tranbarger would play keep-away from us until he found a receiver or took off running.”Skyline will have one last chance to get a win this season when they host the Kinsley Coyotes next Thursday for Parents Night.STATS